How to Deal with Math Anxiety?

According to an article published by NCBI (Spotlight on math anxiety), about 93% of adult Americans have confirmed that they have some level of anxiety towards Math. And studies have gone to prove that we pass on Math Anxiety like a bad virus. The result of this is children consciously not choosing areas of STEM in higher grades to avoid Math. Is this justified? Should the fear of one subject turn away children from choosing a career of passion? Can the Math Anxiety not be tackled?

Yes, it can be tackled! Have you ever heard a Kindergartner, or a Second Grader talk about not liking Math? No! The reason for this would be that Math is logical for younger kids.

According to Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development, younger children (2-7 and 7-11 years of age) understand the world with concrete concepts. If you tell a child 2+2=4, this is an abstract concept for a child. You need to give the child two candies and then add two more candies and the child counts them up to 4. This is concrete. This is learning by doing, leaning by exploring and here it is easy for the child to grasp the concept. When children learn higher mathematical concepts, the abstract concepts remain abstract, leading to lack of comprehension, hence Math Anxiety.

Make the concepts of Math as interactive as possible. Encourage the children to explore, reason and question. This needs to be done from an early age. It gives children the confidence to make mistakes and learn from them. If a child says 2+2=5, do not say ‘that is wrong’, instead, as ‘why?’ Help your child to reason, help your child to figure out the logic and help your child to fall in LOVE with MATH!